John Jenkins and Festus Ezeli both had 17 points for Vanderbilt (24-10), which was playing in its first SEC tournament final since 1951, the year of its only other championship. The Commodores pushed ahead in the final minutes with a few timely shots, but mostly with suffocating defense.

Kentucky (32-2) didn't score a field goal over the final 8 minutes and shot just 35.9 percent from the field (23 of 64).

Darius Miller scored 16 points in a surprise start for Kentucky while Terrence Jones and Anthony Davis both added 12.